Just a few days before Christmas in 2015, Matt Harris and Maggie Alvarez opened tupelo in Park City. The dynamic husband-and-wife team chose to spell tupelo with a lower-case “t,” honoring the tupelo trees of the South from which delicate tupelo honey is produced, and to distinguish it from the Mississippi hometown of the King of Rock and Roll. Harris and Alvarez met when they both worked at the then brand-new St. Regis Deer Valley. Harris had relocated to Park City from Georgia and served as executive chef of J&G Grill under the tutelage of renowned restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten. A few years later, the couple would open tupelo on Main Street (the restaurant has since moved to Kearns Blvd).
 
During the past decade, a few menu items have garnered a loyal following, including the buttermilk biscuits with honey butter, deviled eggs, and beef and barley. “There’s definitely still a lot of passion and love for coming up with amazing dishes and providing an environment for people to enjoy them,” says Alvarez.